Yikes – that's a lot of replies, thanks!
This was only our second real trip in the Tacoma and it's a huge upgrade after ten years in a 3rd gen 4Runner. Having a camper I can stand up in, and keep all our gear separate from the cockpit, is a total blessing on par with the separation of church and state. I've got a grocery list of work I want to do on the Tacoma yet, but nothing pressing and it only has 134k miles so there'll be plenty of time to work on it before it goes out to pasture.
Seven balloons smashed my previous record of three. We also rescued two balloons driving back via Owl Hole Spring. There were three others we saw when we were driving that same route out to Lost Lake, but they were a ways off the "road," it was raining pretty decent, and way finding was a bit of a clusterfsck, so we were unable to grab them. On the bingo front, I found a happy birthday one on my 39th birthday in the Park.
For my 40th birthday in the Park my friend made us steak frites (awesome) while my 4Runner was bleeding out differential fluid (not awesome). For anyone wondering what to get me this year, I'll gladly take balloons over a crippled truck. Thank you!
Brice, definitely check out Sand Canyon sometime. It's a nice hike with a really cool rock section early on where enormous boulders have filled the entire canyon which makes for some great (not sketchy) rock climbing / route finding. And if you push on through to the top you're treated with a nice view of Owlhead (dry, most of the time) Lake. I've always wanted to do a loop hike up Sand Canyon and back down a different one to Harry Wade.
Great story, Kauri. Finding your birth certificate in the same envelope as the 4Runner window sticker just about sums up how I feel about Toyotas and what role they've played in my life. Beardilocks definitely gave me a lot of good advice while putting the fear of god in me that my Tacoma will catastrophically fail at any given moment and then I'll be stuck living in the parking lot of an Autozone for a month or two. Good times!
And, yeah, FOOD. Came to the personal conclusion many, many years ago that cooking from scratch while camping in the desert is a PITA. We cook full-blown meals every day at home and make sure to freeze portions of soups, stews, etc., that reheat well while out adventuring. Still in shock & awe at how amazing having an onboard fridge is after decades of carrying multiple coolers to get through 7-10 day trips in the desert.
This was only our second real trip in the Tacoma and it's a huge upgrade after ten years in a 3rd gen 4Runner. Having a camper I can stand up in, and keep all our gear separate from the cockpit, is a total blessing on par with the separation of church and state. I've got a grocery list of work I want to do on the Tacoma yet, but nothing pressing and it only has 134k miles so there'll be plenty of time to work on it before it goes out to pasture.
Seven balloons smashed my previous record of three. We also rescued two balloons driving back via Owl Hole Spring. There were three others we saw when we were driving that same route out to Lost Lake, but they were a ways off the "road," it was raining pretty decent, and way finding was a bit of a clusterfsck, so we were unable to grab them. On the bingo front, I found a happy birthday one on my 39th birthday in the Park.
For my 40th birthday in the Park my friend made us steak frites (awesome) while my 4Runner was bleeding out differential fluid (not awesome). For anyone wondering what to get me this year, I'll gladly take balloons over a crippled truck. Thank you!
Brice, definitely check out Sand Canyon sometime. It's a nice hike with a really cool rock section early on where enormous boulders have filled the entire canyon which makes for some great (not sketchy) rock climbing / route finding. And if you push on through to the top you're treated with a nice view of Owlhead (dry, most of the time) Lake. I've always wanted to do a loop hike up Sand Canyon and back down a different one to Harry Wade.
Great story, Kauri. Finding your birth certificate in the same envelope as the 4Runner window sticker just about sums up how I feel about Toyotas and what role they've played in my life. Beardilocks definitely gave me a lot of good advice while putting the fear of god in me that my Tacoma will catastrophically fail at any given moment and then I'll be stuck living in the parking lot of an Autozone for a month or two. Good times!
And, yeah, FOOD. Came to the personal conclusion many, many years ago that cooking from scratch while camping in the desert is a PITA. We cook full-blown meals every day at home and make sure to freeze portions of soups, stews, etc., that reheat well while out adventuring. Still in shock & awe at how amazing having an onboard fridge is after decades of carrying multiple coolers to get through 7-10 day trips in the desert.